New book criticizing well-known professor of neuroscience who died this year sparks ire from her …

New book criticizing well-known professor of neuroscience who died this year sparks ire from her …

Most academics are used to criticism of their work — and used to defending themselves against it. But what happens when an academic can no longer defend him or herself? In an unusually large show of solidarity, some 200 scientists from around the world this week rejected a new portrayal of a late colleague’s groundbreaking work on memory.The trouble began last week, with The New York Times Magazine’s publication of an excerpt from a new book about Henry Molaison, one of neuroscience’s most famous patients. Known as “Patient H. M.,” Molaison was unable to form new memories following a 1953 brain surgery to relieve seizures from epilepsy. Consequent experiments on Patient H. M. revolutionized the emerging science of memory. The book, called Patient H. M.: A Story of Memory, Madness and Family Secrets,…